"It's Johnny ******* Cage. Mortal Kombat II – coming soon only in theaters," the official Mortal Kombat 2 Twitter posted alongside a poster for a fake movie about Johnny Cage starring Karl Urban as the iconic video game character. "Uncaged Fury," the poster reads. "From the studio that brought you Rebel Without a Cage." You can check out the poster below.

Mortal Kombat 2, which serves as a follow-up to 2021's successful Mortal Kombat, is directed by Simon McQuoid from a screenplay penned by Jeremy Slater. The cast includes Adeline Rudolph as Kitana, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Lewis Tan as cole Young, Josh Lawson as Kano, Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, and Tati Gabrielle as Jade.

Urban is arguably best known for his role as Billy Butcher in Amazon Prime's hit superhero satire series The Boys, in which he has starred in some 32 episodes and appeared in the spin-off Gen V. Johnny Cage was previously portrayed by Linden Ashby in the 1995 movie, Matt Mullins in the 2011 fan-made movie, and Casper Van Dien in the Machinima series Mortal Kombat: Legacy.

Mortal Kombat 2 hits theaters on October 24, 2025. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies, or, check out the ever-growing list of upcoming video game movies.

Timed to the latest trailer drop during the 2025 Super Bowl, Marvel Japan shared a new Thunderbolts* poster on social media, and fans think it finally offers a clue about the much-discussed asterisk.

In the poster, we see the main characters, including Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova and Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes, placed inside a yellow asterisk. "Not super. Not heroes. Not giving up", reads the tagline. At the bottom, below the official title in Japanese and release date, we finally get the meaning behind the asterisk: "*The Avengers are not available".

In the latest Thunderbolts* trailer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine delivers a speech that connects with the meaning of the asterisk. "Let’s talk facts," she says in front of some kind of Congress hearing, "The Avengers are not coming. Who will keep the American people safe?".

The fact that the trailer and the revealing Japanese poster dropped almost at the same time indicates that Marvel is ready to fully disclose the meaning of the asterisk — and it's really not that deep.

It seems to be a humorous way to say that this new superhero group is a downgrade from the mighty Avengers, but they're still the only option available to protect humanity from the threat ahead. It would match the light tone of the movie, which has been compared to '80s teen classic The Breakfast Club.

Previous footage of the movie teased a potential name change for the group, which might explain the use of asterisk to indicate a temporary name. When Red Guardian screams passionately in one of the trailers, "we are the Thunderbolts!", Bucky shakes his head and says: "We can't call ourselves that."

Alas, despite the clue left by the new poster, the mystery remains until official confirmation.

Thunderbolts* hits theaters on May 2. For more, check out our guides to upcoming Marvel movies and shows as well as all you need to know about watching the Marvel movies in order.

Quan, who played Short Round in the Temple of Doom, revealed to Entertainment Weekly that he burst into tears before filming the film's iconic minecart sequence.

"When we shot this sequence, I was so scared," Quan said. "And I cried. I remember Harrison Ford kneeling down in front of me and asking me if I was okay."

"He said, and I'll never forget this, 'Ke, I want you to remember, I will never hurt you.' When he said that, oh my gosh, it just made me love him so much more. Here is Indiana Jones telling me that he's gonna take care of me."

After Quan's first role in the Temple of Doom, he then appeared the next year in The Goonies as Data. The actor then spent decades away from acting in Hollywood – including a stint as assistant fight choreographer on 2000's X-Men – before finding prominence and awards acclaim as part of the cast of Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Speaking to GamesRadar+ prior to the release of his new action comedy Love Hurts, Quan admitted that he would be open to reprising his role of O.B. in the MCU after first appearing as the TVA techie during Loki season 2.

"First of all, the answer to that is a resounding yes," Quan said. "I love O.B. I had such a fun time playing him, I loved him on the page, and when the show came out, he was so beloved – that was so gratifying. That entire experience, working with Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson, was amazing. I would love to see him do more, not only in the TVA but possibly in the main timeline…"

Harrison Ford, meanwhile, is set to join his former co-star at Marvel Studios, portraying Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross/Red Hulk in Captain America: Brave New World.

For more, check out our guide to upcoming movies. Then dive into the Marvel timeline for the MCU's story so far.

The new look comes from a merchandise box for a Krypto action figure. A picture of the hero is shown at the corner of the box, where Corenswet’s Superman is seen flying upwards with his fist pointed out. Check out the image below.

New Promotional Image of David Corenswet's Superman from a Krypto Action Figure Cover from r/DC_Cinematic

It hasn't taken long for DC fans to take to Reddit to discuss Corenswet finally striking the iconic Superman pose. "Love the Reeve-style of flying!," said one fan, while others pointed out how the shot feels reminiscent of Brandon Routh’s hero in the 2006 movie Superman Returns

However, many Reddit users are questioning why Warner Bros. didn't use this shot in the first trailer. "This is literally what the other flying shot should have looked more like," said one fan, while another added, "Okay, now that’s more like it. I can’t help but feel the recent spot wouldn’t have gotten so much in the way of jokes had this been the posing, angle, and all that."

Of course, the fans are talking about the awkward restrained pose Superman was shown in recent Superman footage. As soon as the clip dropped, fans couldn't get over how strange Corenswet looked taking flight as the hero, with his arms held back as if he had been shot out of a cannon. This made a few fans a bit concerned, but with this new look, it seems like we have nothing to worry about.

Kickstarting the live-action side of James Gunn’s brand new DCU Chapter One: Gods and Monsters, Superman stars Corenswet as The Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent AKA Superman, as the hero balances his Kryptonian and human heritage. The movie also stars Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane.

Superman releases on July 11, 2025. While you wait, check out what other upcoming DC movies you have to look forward to.

The follow-up to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning sees Cruise's Ethan Hunt diving into the wreckage of the Sevastopol submarine. Something goes wrong during the mission, putting the hero in an impossible, life-threatening situation.

This subaquatic sequence, shot in an 8.5 million litre water tank on a rotating gimbal, is set to be one of the most impressive stunts in the movie. It required Cruise to wear a special suit and mask that he could only be in for 10 minutes at a time before suffering damaging consequences.

"I'm breathing in my own carbon dioxide. It builds up in the body and affects the muscles," the actor told Empire about the dangers behind the stunt, which could have led to him to suffer from an absence of oxygen in body tissue, a condition known as hypoxia.

"You have to overcome all of that while you're doing it, and be present," he added.

The film's director Christopher McQuarrie reflected on filming the sequence, saying it was "so challenging and so terrifying" for the team, but especially "really physically punishing" for Tom Cruise.

"He's in a rotating structure filled with debris, and you had to find a way to make that environment look as chaotic and unhinged as humanly possible, but in a way that you could repeat, and that Tom could navigate, and survive," McQuarrie explained.

As seen in the first trailers of the movie, the new Mission: Impossible movie is packed with death-defying stunts, which see Ethan Hunt hanging from a biplane and engaging in plenty of intense fights.

If this is his goodbye from the franchise, Tom Cruise is giving his all.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning hits cinemas on May 23, 2025. For more, check out our movie release dates calendar, and don't miss our ranking of the best Mission: Impossible movies.

According to a new report from TheWrap, the fifth Avengers movie will begin shooting this March in the UK. That's just a few weeks away, and just over a year from the movie's May 1, 2026 release date.

At the moment, it's unclear who will be appearing in Doomsday. All we know for sure is that Robert Downey Jr. will be returning, though as Doctor Doom rather than Iron Man. Chris Evans has shot down rumors that he'll be back as Steve Rogers, too.

"That's not true, though," Evans said. "This always happens. I mean, it happens every couple years – ever since Endgame. I've just stopped responding to it." He added: "Yeah, no – happily retired!"

Captain America: Brave New World star Anthony Mackie recently told us what he's excited to see in Avengers 5 and 6. "It's just exciting, the idea of seeing the new people, and hopefully the two worlds coming together and creating a super MCU," he said. "It's exciting. You see Deadpool and Wolverine, [and] it's like, 'Are they gonna be in it?' You know what I mean? Like, you see these movies [and you think], 'Who's gonna be in it, who's gonna do it.' I'm excited about that."

Avengers: Secret Wars will be arriving a year after Doomsday, landing on May 7, 2027. In the meantime, this year has Brave New World, Thunderbolts, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, along with TV shows like Daredevil: Born Again.

You can keep up to date with everything the MCU has in store with our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and TV shows, or have a marathon with our rundown of how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

"I am as hungry for it as you all are," Serkis said during a public appearance at Orlando's fan convention MegaCon last Sunday (via Youtube channel Love Our Life).

"He [Matt Reeves] told me the story of The Batman 2, and I was so excited for it", the actor told the fans, but he didn't reveal any more details about the movie, or when we can expect filming to start.

It's still a positive update, however, following the sequel's recent delays, which will lead to a five-year gap between The Batman and the release of The Batman 2.

In early January, director Matt Reeves addressed the situation, saying things are going to start moving forward soon. "I can tell you we're going to be shooting this year, and that we're excited about it. We’re doing something that absolutely continues where the story comes, but it's something that I hope people will be surprised by," he said.

Reeves also said the villain of the film, who hasn't been announced yet, will surprise fans. "The story is a continuation in a certain way and completely different in another. It's gonna show a different side to Rob[ert Pattinson]. I think it's going to be really cool," he added.

It's going to be a long wait for The Batman 2, but in the meantime we can also enjoy this DC universe through HBO's award-winning spin-off series The Penguin, starring Colin Farrell as the titular DC villain.

The Batman: Part 2 hits theaters on October 1, 2027. While you wait, check out our guide to all the upcoming DC movies and TV shows for everything else that's on the way.

Does that sound dramatic? Well, it is. A multi-billion dollar franchise that has captivated millions of fans is on the brink of potential collapse in a way that it hasn’t been before. Sure, things took a turn for the mixed after Avengers: Endgame in 2019 with the reaction to the cluttered output of Marvel Studios TV and film in the subsequent years. But there were highlights as well as lowlights, leading to the turning point for the MCU: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, a critically lambasted film that failed to capture the fanbase, led to revelations about Marvel’s overwork of VFX artists, and kicked off 2023, aka Marvel's no good, very bad year.

2024 was a relative pause for the studio, purposefully so from the brass at Disney, and it led to what seemed to be a return to form: Deadpool & Wolverine was an enormous box office hit beloved by fans, Echo generally surpassed the otherwise low expectations, Agatha All Along was popular enough to spur on talk about a potential second season, and What If…? was also there.

So heading into 2025, one might think the MCU is back on track… Right? Well, no. From the film to the TV output, there’s a sense of nervousness around nearly every project Marvel is releasing this year.

Thunderbolts* isn't the only title with an asterisk

That nervousness starts with Captain America: Brave New World, a project that spins out of the mixed reception to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (a show that, to be fair, was heavily impacted by COVID production).

Delayed nearly an entire year since its original release date, the movie has reportedly gone through multiple reshoots that added some actors (Giancarlo Esposito) and removed others (Seth Rollins). It's also spurred on a fair amount of controversy for initially casting Shira Haas as Israeli superhero Sabra, who has since been changed to a non-Israeli Black Widow. Add in that the movie is repurposing characters from 2008’s not-exactly beloved The Incredible Hulk and picking up plot elements from the outright maligned Eternals, and there are, to be kind, a lot of questions going into this Valentine's Day release.

The next two theatrical releases this year also have similar question marks. Thunderbolts*, an anti-hero team-up movie, has also gone through a fair amount of churn behind the scenes, with actors and even directors leaving the project. Heck, it even has an asterisk next to its name, a confusing promo move that Marvel’s Kevin Feige has said won’t be explained until the movie hits theaters.

And then there’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Not only does this movie have the responsibility of introducing Marvel’s first family into the MCU, a cast of characters that are likely crucial to the franchise's future, but this is the fourth time Marvel has tried to introduce the FF on screen. While assuredly every version of Fantastic Four on-screen has its fans from Roger Corman on, if this take doesn’t work not only will it capsize any sort of future for the team on screen, it could take the MCU with it.

Eyes on the small screen

Marvel TV, too, has an interesting year. Daredevil: Born Again is a highly anticipated reboot of the beloved Netflix series, but it is built on the bones of an MCU series that was stopped mid-production and entirely reassessed. The first trailer seemed to rest entirely on the idea of ultra-violence, something that may appeal to the hardcore Netflix crowd but could be an odd fit with the rest of the MCU.

Ironheart debuts later this year, after first being announced in 2020 and sitting on the shelf for several years, which is never a promising sign. And at the end of the year we’re getting a superhero parody, Wonder Man (announced in 2022), as well as two short-form animated series: Eyes of Wakanda (announced in 2023) and Marvel Zombies (announced in 2021).

While all of these shows have the chance of being creative high points, and/or pleasant surprises like Agatha All Along, with multiple projects left over from Disney’s original directive to flood the zone on Disney+, rather than their more recent “chill, dudes” directive, there’s a sense of worry around these series too. Not to mention that once again releasing multiple TV projects at the same time as multiple movies has the potential to wear out more casual fans who were, perhaps, refreshed by the restraint of 2024’s release schedule.

In the previous decade and a half, whenever there was a hiccup in the MCU (think Thor: The Dark World or Iron Man 2), there was always the next movie to pick up the slack. In 2025, the MCU is being afforded far less leeway by the fans, the general public, and critics. It’s entirely possible all of these TV shows and movies hit, and here’s hoping they do. But if this turns into a repeat of 2023, rather than the franchise rejuvenation Marvel and Disney are hoping for leading into the upcoming superhero mash-ups Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, we may be looking at those pair of high-budget blockbusters (which given the money and resources already invested will happen no matter what) as the MCU’s swan song.

Captain America: Brave New World is next on the agenda, hitting theaters this February 14. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows for everything else the MCU has in store, or prepare for a marathon with our guide to watching the Marvel movies in order.

"Listen, after a while, when it was constantly in the press and places like Twitter, I was like: 'wait a minute, is this true? Am I being talked about for Kang?' So I literally called my team and asked: 'are you having conversations that I don't know anything about?' They were like, no," he recalled in a recent appearance in Josh Horowitz's podcast Happy Sad Confused.

"There had been conversations about me coming into Marvel in some way, so we did follow up with a sit-down meeting with the heads of Marvel. So I did do that. And we talked openly about the landscape of Marvel, and even the Kang rumors," Domingo explained.

Ultimately, replacing Majors as Kang was not in the cards for the Oscar-nominated actor.

"I'm just all about energy, and I just want to do things that makes sense and brings gentle energy. I want a role to be mine, whatever that role is, whatever I develop. Something doesn't feel right of me like: 'oh, would I replace someone?' No, I said: 'I want to build something from the ground up that's my own'.

"So I feel that was never a conversation from my point of view, you know what I mean? If I was discussed, I still don't know if I was discussed, but I just know that I would want to build something from the ground up," he said.

Domingo confirmed "there are still talks" with Marvel, so we might get to see him in an MCU movie soon.

For now, as he pointed out in the podcast, he is already part of the superhero franchise thanks to his voice acting in Disney Plus' animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. The actor voices an alternate-universe version of iconic villain Norman Osborn.

"I'm having a great time. I love the animation. I love the idea of playing Norman Osborn. You'll see his evolution to the Green Goblin in coming seasons, which will be very cool," he told Josh Horowitz.

Still, Colman Doming wants to switch to live action as soon as there is an opportunity for him: "It's cool [Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man], but I do want to get the live action out there. Wouldn't that be cool?".

For more, check out our list of all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows you should know about.

It's no secret that Marvel has been floundering ever since Avengers: Endgame, and the debate over superhero fatigue has only become even more intense in its wake. High profile flops like Ant-Man: Quantumania and The Marvels seemed to cement that audiences were growing tired of watching spandex-clad heroes save the day, instead craving something different.

And then, last year's release Deadpool and Wolverine seemed to finally break the mold, grossing over $1 billion at the box office and proving a success with critics to boot.

This year, it looks like Thunderbolts* is primed to be something of a successor to the R-rated hit. For one thing, both movies take on a more irreverent and self-deprecating tone. Most importantly, though, they're also focused on more unconventional 'heroes,' who aren't really heroes at all – but Thunderbolts* is going bigger with a whole team of them.

The Thunderbolts* line-up is an eclectic mix of characters, featuring some former antagonists like Ghost and Taskmaster, along with anti-heroes like Yelena Belova and Bucky Barnes. Bringing a bit of grit to the MCU is very welcome indeed, and it allows for something genuinely fresh. This isn't yet another superhero team-up – and with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars on the way, we surely have enough of those in the pipeline after The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Instead, it's an oddball crew with plenty of potential.

Yelena stole the show when she was introduced in 2021's Black Widow, and Red Guardian provided tons of laughs. John Walker has a real, terrifying dark side too, while Taskmaster has her tragic past, Ghost her intriguing powers, and Bucky his own complicated history (and dry sense of humor). Marvel has dabbled in misfit team-ups before with the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, but this group of characters are far more morally gray than the Guardians ever were. None of the Thunderbolts are straightforward 'good guys,' but they're not villains, either, and that's what makes them – and the movie – so interesting.

It looks like the eccentric team will be going up against a real threat in Sentry, too, who is seen vaporizing people fleeing in terror in the new trailer. If Lewis Pullman is indeed the one playing the character, then that's another intriguing twist, since his character 'Bob' is also seen hanging out with the team.

First Family

Now, don't get me wrong. The Fantastic Four: First Steps has plenty of potential to be a standout superhero movie too. But I was slightly let down by the movie's first trailer, which borrowed the '60s aesthetic of WandaVision without really showcasing what makes this film so special. When the trailer finished, I found myself thinking "this looks like any other Marvel movie," which really wasn't the reaction I was hoping for after the promise of the illustrated first look.

Thunderbolts*, meanwhile, really does look like something new for the MCU. "It’s not a straightforward Marvel movie as you’ve seen in the past,” John Walker actor Wyatt Russell has teased before (via The Hollywood Reporter). "I think that it's gonna be a lot of fun but I think it will be something that hopefully Marvel fans will look at and go, ‘Oh OK, this is a little different, let’s go hard at it.'"

I'm not writing off Fantastic Four just yet, of course. It certainly does have a lot of potential with its retro-futuristic setting and family dynamics. But so far, what I've seen of Thunderbolts* is far more exciting, because it really seems to be throwing out Marvel's tried and tested playbook for a tale that focuses on the MCU's shades of gray, rather than its shining heroes.

Time will tell if I'm right and Thunderbolts* turns out to be the more interesting of the two Marvel movies. It's undeniable that there's a lot riding on both their shoulders – along with February's Captain America: Brave New World – and 2025 is something of a make or break year not just for the MCU, but for DC, too, with the much-anticipated release of Superman.

It really feels like this year will reveal the fate of superhero movies going forwards – and it's one of either continuing diminishing returns, or a revitalized future with an enthusiastic audience. Here's hoping the Thunderbolts really can save the day.

Thunderbolts* arrives on May 2, while The Fantastic Four: First Steps lands on July 25. Next up for Marvel, though, is Captain America: Brave New World, which releases this February 14.

In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows for everything else the MCU has in store.

Reuniting with Nolan after Inception, Cotillard played Wayne Enterprises' CEO Miranda Tate in the sequel to The Dark Knight, released in 2012. Spoiler alert, her character starts as an ally to Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne, but she is later revealed to be Talia al Ghul, an accomplice of Tom Hardy's masked villain Bane.

After trying to kill Batman and destroy Gotham, Cotillard's character dies in a crash. Her death scene sees the French actress delivering a monologue in an awkward position from the truck that’s just crashed. "My father's work is done," she whispers in her last breath. However, the emotional impact of the scene, fans point out, is ruined by the oddness of Cotillard's performance.

The actress agrees. "I didn't nail that scene," she said when a fan asked her about the scene in French TV show Les rencontres du Papotin (via Reddit).

"I couldn't find the right position, I couldn't find the right way... I was stressed. Sometimes it happens, we screw something up. And this, I screwed up", she added.

As a recurrent debate among The Dark Knight fans since the movie was released, this is not the first time Cotillard talks about it. Back in 2016, she addressed the scene in an interview with Allociné.

"Sometimes there are failures, and when you see this on screen, you're thinking: 'Why? Why did they keep that take?' But either you blame everyone or nobody. But I thought people overreacted, because it was tough to be identified just with this scene. When I'm doing the best I can to find the authenticity in every character that I'm playing, it's tough to be known just for this scene".

For more, check out our list of upcoming movies in 2025.

The clip shows Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner fixing his infamous hair, captioned "the only bowl I need."

"Yes! I love that you're leaning into his haircut," says one fan, while another says: "Guy Gardner fixing his bowl cut stylishly is exploding on the timeline, I prayed for times like this as a DC fan"

But not everyone is so positive. "Bro did they rlly only drop one Krypto promo vid and a goddamn Guy Gardner TikTok for this Puppy Bowl? Where is the new clip" says another person.

"I really hate this character design. I don't care that it's comic accurate," says someone else.

"Not having a Super Bowl TV Spot for a Superman movie is kind of insane. Don't agree with it tbh," is another person's verdict.

We'll just have to be a little more patient for our next look at the tentpole DC movie, which is arriving as part of Chapter One: Gods and Monsters.

David Correnswet stars as Superman, with Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. Along with Fillion, the rest of the cast includes Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Milly Alcock as Supergirl, Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Wendell Pierce as Perry White, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, and Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho.

Superman arrives on July 11. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming DC movies and shows for everything else the DCU has in store.

Despite her prominent position in the poster and being named in the trailer, Taskmaster actually barely appears in the latest clip. It's a pattern too that we've seen in earlier teasers as well, leaving fans all but convinced the character doesn't last long in the upcoming Marvel Phase 5 movie.

Posting on Reddit, one user wrote, "Either Taskmaster dies early, or she’s going to be so different that they aren’t showing her. I’m hoping for the latter but expecting the former." A second agreed, adding: "Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I've been hoping this is where they'll fix her personality but I'm losing faith with how little she's in the trailer."

A third even speculated on how it might happen, adding: "My bet is on Taskmaster being the one The Void kills to prove his power. Which is a shame. Really had high hopes of her coming back." Another agrees, citing two possibilities, "I wonder if they are hiding her arc for some reason or they really have her as the character to be sacrificed early on to level set Sentry/Void."

Olga Kurylenko's Antonia Dreykov first appeared in Black Widow as an antagonist, controlled by her father Dreykov to work for the Red Room. However, Natasha Romanoff freed her in that movie, bringing her to the side of the light. Fans had been hoping that Thunderbolts* may feature more character development and give the Quantum of Solace star more of a role.

Thunderbolts* follows a group of misfits brought together in lieu of the Avengers to fight a new threat. Recruited by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, the team features Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes, David Harbour's Alexei Shostakov, Wyatt Russell's John Walker, and Hannah John-Kamen's Ava Starr. Meanwhile, Lewis Pullman plays Sentry, who has been all but confirmed as the bad guy in the latest trailer.

Thunderbolts* hits theaters on May 2. For more, check out our guides to upcoming Marvel movies and shows as well as all you need to know about watching the Marvel movies in order.

Fresh off the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer earlier this week, Marvel has also unveiled a new look at Thunderbolts*.

We've seen a couple of first looks at the Marvel Phase 5 movie already, but this one is the most action-packed yet. The trailer, released at the 2025 Super Bowl, can be watched above - and it looks like the MCU's most beloved antiheroes are stepping in for the Avengers.

In the brief clip, Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine tells a courtroom that the Avengers "aren't coming" and that it's up to the Thunderbolts, consisting of a plethora of MCU antiheroes who have definitely committed some war crimes, to save the world. "None of us can fly," Yelena says. "So we all just punch and shoot?"

The emotional trailer sees the team become discouraged by their pasts, only to be reassured that they do have some goodness in them - and that they are, in fact, the right people for the job - which seems to be defeating the mysterious Sentry. There's plenty of ass-kicking action, explosions, car flips - and there's still an asterisk next to the film's title for some reason. 

The premise sees a team brought together by Valentina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) for a special government mission. Alongside Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova and Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes, the movie also brings back David Harbour's Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell's John Walker, Olga Kurylenko's Taskmaster, Lewis Pullman's Bob (or Sentry if we're being honest), and Hannah John-Kamen's Ava Starr.

Star Stan has been vocal about how great he thinks Pugh is in the movie, which she previously told GamesRadar+ she was very flattered by. "I was very, very chuffed that he said that about me," she told us at San Diego Comic-Con 2024. "Also, it's so kind when people that you look up to and respect and love working with say wonderful things about you because it just makes you fill yourself with confidence and makes you feel that the thing you appreciate is also appreciating you and it's a lovely feeling. And he's been in the MCU for such a long time so to hear that from him is very special."

Thunderbolts* is due to hit theaters on May 2, just a few months after Captain America: Brave New World. They're not the only upcoming superhero movies either as The Fantastic Four: First Steps then arrives in July.

For more on the MCU, check out guides to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows, our breakdown of the Marvel timeline, and all the details about how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

Everything you were, everything you've done, has come to this. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. See you at the movies May 23, 2025. pic.twitter.com/KDt7LbOdTCFebruary 9, 2025

The new trailer for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is here and, forget the Super Bowl, the real action can be found in what's shaping up to be Ethan Hunt's final Mission.

In the brief trailer, which can be viewed above, Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt embarks on what appears to be his final mission - complete with explosions, underwater stunts, and a scene where Cruise does that famous drop-down move from the first movie. "Everything you are, everything you've done, has come to this," the voice-over says. We also see Cruise very impressively hang off a biplane that's speeding through the air. Needless to say, the stakes are high and the stunts are more dangerous than ever.

Even the air of finality surrounding The Final Reckoning hasn't slowed the action franchise or Cruise down, however.

"We had a small screening and someone said, 'I was suffocating throughout the entire sequence. I almost had a heart attack.' And I thought, 'I guess we did something right," director Christopher McQuarrie told Empire of an unnamed sequence.

Meanwhile, the Final Reckoning's callback to Mission: Impossible 3 might elicit shock of a very different kind, one that could majorly hint at how the curtain-closer acts as a love letter to the series' past. In the first Final Reckoning trailer, a canister that appears to contain the Rabbit's Foot MacGuffin from the J.J. Abrams-directed threequel can be glimpsed.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, stars Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales, Vanessa Kirby, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, and Pom Klementieff. It's set to hit cinemas on May 23, 2025.

For more, check out the upcoming movies headed your way very soon. Then your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to dive into our ranking of the best Mission: Impossible movies.

After seeing the silhouette of the Devourer of Worlds and The Thing looking heartbroken about his rocky new look, one shot saw the titular team standing together on a TV show set with arrows from every direction pointed at them. This band of heroes wasn't the first to walk on such a stage, though, as it's a direct homage to The Beatles' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show back in 1965, only four years after the Fantastic Four's comic book debut.

It's a fitting wink to an equally iconic group who appeared in Marvel comics themselves. Besides getting their own comic book in 1978, The Beatles had plenty of run-ins with the Fantastic Four over the years. Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross' Marvels comic run saw Ben Grimm/The Thing and Johnny Storm/The Human Torch stop a robbery and cross paths with the band. Also, a group resembling The Beatles attended the wedding of Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic and Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman. Well, it might've been them, as it was also revealed in later years that The Beatles in Earth-616 were hijacked by Skrulls, who continued the band's career while concealing their alien identities. Imagine.

There is no confirmation on whether The Beatles will appear in the upcoming film because while it might look like a familiar era, it's potentially not the dimension we know. As already spotted in the trailer in a blink-or-you-'ll-miss-it moment, Pedro Pascal's Reed is hard at work on a portal system that could bridge the gap between this future retro-looking world and the one with angry red presidents and wall-crawling menaces. We'll see how he makes it over when Fantastic Four: First Steps storms into theatres on July 25. Before that, check out the 12 easter eggs we spotted in the latest preview here.

Speaking to Deadline about the upcoming film, Brosnahan assures that there's no better time than now for the Man of Tomorrow to make his return today. “We’re living in a moment of so much turmoil, both here, abroad,” explained the former star of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. “There’s a lot of challenges for everybody in all different pockets of the world right now. And for a lot of the complaints that people have sometimes about superhero movies, at their core, they’re about the goodness of people and how good we can be to each other, how the pursuit of truth and justice really are the American way, and that courage and hope can carry us through."

So far, what's been left on show has given fans very little to complain about (excluding that viral clip of Supes flying that even Gunn himself had to address). Corenswet's Kal-El looks to be tapping into the classic iteration of the hero that the former Guardians of the Galaxy director revealed will bring a balance of the Silver Age comic book style for modern-age storytelling. Meanwhile, Brosnahan assured, "It’s a hopeful superhero movie, which I feel like is so true to the comics. So, I’m excited for audiences to see it and hopefully have some fun and enjoy the ride with us.”

But of course, just like Corenswet will be following in the superpowered footsteps of stars like Henry Cavill, Brandon Routh, and the legendary Christopher Reeve from director Richard Donner's iconic iteration, his co-star will have the same issue following the legendary Lois' that came before her. “I mean, I grew up loving the Donner Superman movies, the Chris Reeve Superman movies, Margot Kidder. I mean, she’s just a dream. So, I was definitely intimidated to step into this role but excited to pick up the mantle."

We'll see how Brosnahan handles staying in her Lane when Superman flies into theatres on July 11. For everything else DC-related, be sure to check out our guide of movies and shows from that universe here.

In an interview with Screen Rant, Mackie revealed his math behind keeping the mantle of the shield-chucking hero and believes a decade would just about do it. "The 10 years start on the 14th. That's it. After the 14th I got a 10-year run. I'm not trying to be a 60-year-old Captain America. That'll hurt."

Mackie, 46, officially assumed the role of Captain in the finale of Falcon and the Winter Soldier after Steve handed Sam the shield at the end of Avengers: Endgame. Even then, he was unsure what to make of it, initially predicting that Sam wouldn't make it out of Marvel's massive comic book movie alive.

The new chapter of Sam's career as the star-spangled hero will see him unravel a conspiracy that involves a decorated war hero and the newly appointed president, Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (Harrison Ford). That's not the only threat he'll be facing, either. Joining in on the action is Giancarlo Esposito as Sidewinder, along with Tim Blake Nelson, who will be reprising his role as Samuel Sterns, aka The Leader, after we last saw him in The Incredible Hulk back in 2008.

With such a huge hit list to tackle during his first filmic mission as Cap, Mackie was still enthusiastic about his alter-ego's ability to do this all day, just like his predecessor—most specifically, on the big screen, as opposed to the small. "I think there's something in the idea of Captain America being, people love the nature of these movies, the attitude, the realness, the groundedness of these movies," explained Mackie. "It just works in a cinematic base that I think movies, Captain America deserves to be on the big screen because people love Captain America and that's where they want to see him."

Captain America: Brave New World touches down in theatres on February 14. For every other upcoming MCU chapter, check out our guide to every upcoming Marvel movie and TV show here.

In the seven-minute clip, the Avatar actor gives his version of iconic lines like "Martini, shaken not stirred" and "Bond, James Bond" as well as doing a few run-throughs of the same scene. The audition was for the part of the super spy in Casino Royale, when a new Bond took on the mantle from Pierce Brosnan. The role ultimately went to Daniel Craig.

Worthington has previously spoken about auditioning for the role, revealing that he thinks it wasn't his best work. Per ComicBook.com, Worthington recounted the experience on the Australian radio show Fitzy and Wippa back in 2023.

"I did go for Bond. I went and did the audition with Martin Campbell, who ended up directing Casino Royale," he recalled. "You walk in, there’s the girl in the bed, you charm her. I could get the killer of Bond down. I just couldn’t get the charm. I couldn’t charm her. The suit didn’t fit, man."

Worthington then added: "I tried to do a British accent. I did say to them I wanted to wear the white tuxedo like Roger Moore. I wanted to bring back kung fu chops, and they looked at me like I was crazy." He then pointed out: "It was awful. I sounded like Dick Van Dyke from Mary Poppins. I remember Martin going, 'Just do your normal voice, it’s all cool, man.'"

Fans of the star disagree though, with plenty of positive comments on the YouTube video. One wrote: "Really good actually… The best out of them all on here from 2005" while another pointed out: "He has a natural charisma and interesting body language." A third added: "Everyone starts somewhere. Worthington may not have qualified as Bond, but he does demonstrate a lot of good potential."

The same YouTube channel, Ron South, has released screentests for Cavill, Starr, and Pride and Prejudice actor Rupert Friend. According to his YouTube description, he found the tapes in a recycling bin at a movie studio.

For more 007, check our guide to the best James Bond movies, ranked.

"It is, I hope, the satisfying conclusion to a 30-year story arc," he told Empire magazine. "I'm pretty confident that people are going to feel that the title was appropriate."

Cruise was similarly coy. "You gotta see the movie," he said. "It's a hard thing for me to discuss at the moment, because it really is something that you have to experience."

That's not a clear answer either way, then, but it certainly sounds like this could be Cruise's final time in the Mission: Impossible franchise. "Final" is very final, after all.

One thing we do know, though, is that if Cruise does step away, it's unlikely that his spot would be filled by his Top Gun: Maverick co-star Glen Powell. "My mom would never let me do that," Powell joked of the possibility. "That’s the worst gig in town, everybody knows that. That’s a death trap."

It does indeed sound like the stunts will be huge, too. "I have just finished shooting, I've got one day of pick ups to do. I've seen some of it. It's bananas. It's absolutely bananas," Simon Pegg said of the movie last year. "What he does in this one, it boggles the mind. I think this one is the best one ever. And I'm not just saying that because it's like, 'Oh you've got to say it.'"

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning releases on May 23, 2025. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the most exciting upcoming movies for everything else the year has in store.

As mentioned in an interview with IGN, Mackie asked to ditch the cowl first glimpsed during the series finale of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

"I told them I was never wearing that shit again, dude," Mackie said. "That was hard – with the heat, the sweat, the fogged-up glasses. It was impossible… it was my worst nightmare."

From what we've seen so far of Captain America: Brave New World, Mackie's Sam Wilson is instead wearing a more traditional Captain America get-up, complete with the Falcon-esque flourish of red boots and red goggles. Crucially, the neck brace-style cowl is nowhere to be found.

He'll need all the free movement he can get, too, seeing as how the new Cap is seemingly taking on Harrison Ford's Red Hulk, Tim Blake Nelson's The Leader, and Giancarlo Esposito's Sidewinder.

Speaking to GamesRadar+ ahead of Brave New World's release, Mackie expressed his excitement at finally stepping into the role of Captain America on the big screen – over half-a-decade after his character was bestowed the iconic shield by Chris Evans' Steve Rogers in Avengers: Endgame.

"You have to think about how much work and how much time went into this. They told me I was gonna be Captain America five years ago. So I've just been biding my time waiting for this moment," Mackie said.

He continued, "But the excitement of it comes with the idea of, Marvel gave me the best cast, they gave me the best script, they gave me the best crew, they gave me the best director to make the best movie we could make. And I'm just really proud of it. I'm proud of the fact that it turned out the way it did, and it's entertaining, and it's heartfelt, and it's fun, and it's everything a Marvel movie is supposed to be."

Captain America: Brave New World flies into theaters on February 14. For more from the MCU, check out our guides on the Marvel timeline and how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

"You know, that’s not my project, to be honest. But, I do know, as Marvel [Studios] continues to go through this phase, we want to make sure whatever we’re making is awesome. So that means we had to slow down some things that were on the front burner,” said Moore in an interview with Collider.

It sounds like Armor Wars may be one of those projects the studio has slowed down on, but this doesn't mean the movie has been scrapped. "It doesn't mean we'll never make it,” added Moore. “But it does mean we just have to be a little bit more considered so that every time out, audiences are guaranteed quality."

Armor Wars, starring Iron Man's Don Cheadle, was originally announced as a TV show but changed to a movie back in 2022. The film is said to pick up after Secret Invasion, following Cheadle's War Machine and "what happens when Tony Stark's tech falls into the wrong hands." The project was officially re-announced at D23 with Cheadle in attendance, but news of the project has been pretty thin on the ground since.

As for Moore, the producer is fresh off of working on the upcoming Marvel movie Captain America: Brave New World, and was set to serve as producer on Ryan Coolgler’s Black Panther 3. However, in December 2024, Moore stated he was leaving Marvel after 14 years, which may be why Armor Wars is "not my project" anymore as the producer told Collider.

Armor Wars does not yet have an official release date. For more, check out our guide on how to watch Marvel movies in order, and keep up with upcoming Marvel movies heading your way.

At the 54-second mark, our eyes should be focusing on Johnny Storm getting his flame on and shooting off into the sky. Instead, @davjolie on Twitter scanned the background and noticed Vanessa Kirby's Sue Storm being helped away and clutching her stomach. See for yourself below.

If we didn't know any better, that looks like a pregnant woman being taken out of harm's way. If you skip back to 45 seconds, there's also a moment of Reed Richards and Sue Storm in space that looks suspiciously like a birthing scene.

Honestly, we're convinced. After all, there have long been whispers that Marvel's First Family would hear the pitter-patter of baby feet in the MCU. The hosts at Good Morning America even asked Kirby about being a mother in First Steps. The reply? "You'll have to wait and see." Curious.

And, of course, the comics have pulled Fantastic Four's children Franklin and Valeria into increased prominence over the past decade.

With all roads leading to Avengers: Secret Wars – an event that Franklin ultimately holds major sway over in Jonathan Hickman's 2015 comic run of the same name – it would make sense for those characters to be introduced sooner rather than later. We just assumed Marvel would be better at hiding it in the very first trailer.

The Fantastic Four, if you believe the tin-foil hat theorists out there (of which I am proudly a member), is also hiding more in its trailer. Exhibit A: a curiously-obscured shot that could be holding back the reveal of Reed Richards's stretching powers. Exhibit B: A Morse code message that spells out 'RADIATION' during the Fantastic Four trailer launch. What else are they hiding?

Fantastic Four, starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon-Moss Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn, hits cinemas on July 25, 2025.

For more, check out the upcoming Marvel movies heading your way in Marvel Phase 5 and beyond.

"There would be a day in Africa - any day in Africa - where Tom would go out and do something that topped anything he had ever done before," McQuarrie told Empire. "I truly want to puke thinking about the stress. It was intense.”

"When you stick your face out, going over 120 to 130 miles an hour, you’re not getting oxygen," Cruise explained. "So I had to train myself how to breathe. There were times I would pass out physically; I was unable to get back into the cockpit."

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, previously titled Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two, follows IMF agent Ethan Hunt as he attempts to destroy a dangerous AI known as The Entity. The first trailer was released in January, which sees Cruise hang from a biplane, engage in several high-octane fights, and do a series of death-defying underwater stunts. It's also worth mentioning that the film has a budget of $400 million, making it one of the most expensive films ever made - which makes sense for the last installment of one of the biggest action franchises ever.

The cast includes Hayley Atwell, Vanessa Kirby, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Angela Bassett, Nick Offerman, and Pom Klementieff.

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning hits theaters on May 23. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2025, or, check out our complete list of movie release dates.

OK, so that was a bit dramatic - but so is the history of Galactus, one of Marvel's most distinctive and destructive villains, who will make it to the big screen in something close to his pure, unadulterated comic book form in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

Played by Ralph Ineson, Galactus is seen just barely in the recently released first trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which shows the back of his giant, unmistakably weird helmet, along with his massive shadow being cast over New York City.

For lifelong Marvel fans, especially fans of the Fantastic Four, this moment is a long time coming. The last time Galactus was portrayed on film, in 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, he was kinda just a big cloud in space, with a hint of the shape of his aforementioned helmet thrown in.

Needless to say, for a character who is classically shown in comics as a giant guy in purple armor, the space-cloud version was a huge disappointment. So seeing Jack Kirby's brilliantly bizarre design rendered onscreen - even just in the hints we've gotten - is a huge thrill.

What will also be a thrill is seeing how The Fantastic Four: First Steps adapts the classic Galactus Trilogy, told in 1966's Fantastic Four #48-50 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, who created the character for the story.

That groundbreaking arc was one of Marvel's first three-part sequential comic tales, paving the way for the current superhero comic style of having issues that function more like TV episodes, with a story that continues issue-to-issue instead of simple done-in-one adventures that share little connective tissue beyond the hero's involvement.

And of course, there's the excitement of discovering just how Galactus' only-in-comics mega sci-fi backstory could influence the plot of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, as well as potentially the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, as Galactus' comic history goes all the way back to the birth of the Marvel Universe at the dawn of time - and technically, even further back than that.

Galactus in Marvel Comics

In the fictional reality of the Marvel Universe, the current timeline is not the first iteration of the universe. In fact, it's not even the second, third, or fourth - it's actually the seventh time the entirety of universal history, from the Big Bang to the heat-death of the universe, has played out in full.

In each of those previous realities, whole civilizations rose and fell, galactic empires stretched across the cosmos, and heroes and villains did battle in epic sagas - just like in the Marvel Universe we know. But each of those previous iterations also inevitably collapsed, leaving little if any trace of their existence to all but the most eldritch cosmic beings, whose power transcends time and space.

This is where Galactus, known in his previous life as Galan of the planet Taa, enters the picture. Facing the end of his reality in the dying embers of the Sixth Cosmos, Galan finds himself the last surviving being in his entire universe. This brings him into contact with the being known as the Sentience of the Sixth Cosmos, who bonds with Galan, bringing him forward into the newly birthing Seventh Cosmos (the current Marvel timeline) as the cosmically powerful Galactus.

Throughout the entirety of the current Seventh Cosmos, Galactus has served as a universal constant, a being of pure entropy who, while neither actually good nor evil, serves as a fulcrum of destruction for the universe's delicate balancing act of birth, death, and rebirth.

In other words, he eats entire planets, draining them of their lifeforce and extinguishing all living things on them - not because he's evil and wishes ill on these worlds, but because he is cursed with an unending cosmic hunger that must be fed in order for the universe to function properly.

It's that last bit that has made him such a difficult foe for the Fantastic Four and for the Marvel Universe at large. No one wants their own planet to be eaten by Galactus, but Galactus must eat for reality to maintain its balance. Galactus' hunger is so integral to the function of reality that Reed Richards once had to actually defend Galactus' continued existence in order to preserve the cosmos.

This is also where the Silver Surfer comes in, serving as the herald of Galactus, seeking out suitable worlds for his master to devour. That's how Galactus winds up on Earth, and also how he winds up being deterred with the help of his one-time herald - though he returns to Earth time and time again, and is repelled each time.

It's comic book science of the highest order, but it's also an interesting idea that stems from the original conception of Galactus by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee as an enemy of the Fantastic Four who is, functionally, a deity of omnipotent power. This is also why, in the lore of Marvel Comics, Galactus isn't technically actually a giant humanoid. He has no true form, appearing as a reflection of the people he encounters on each planet he visits.

Galactus in the MCU

It's tough to say exactly how Galactus will fit into The Fantastic Four: First Steps beyond his obvious role as a threat for the team to face, in what seems to be shaping up to be a fairly faithful adaptation of the classic Galactus Trilogy.

But the key factor that could complicate the relatively straightforward idea of the FF repelling Galactus from eating the Earth as a plot point is that The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes place in a separate reality from the core Marvel Universe, away from the Avengers and their allies.

Given the conceit that Galactus is the sole survivor of a previous universe, who is one of if not the only being who truly remembers what the previous iteration of reality was like, and the likelihood that the FF will wind up in the core MCU reality, it seems quite possible that the FF's encounter with Galactus will lead to their traveling to the core MCU to crossover with the Avengers in Avengers: Doomsday, and could even have something to do with the likely plot of Avengers: Secret Wars which is based on a comic story in which all of reality is destroyed, with only bits and pieces of a few worlds left over.

All of that seems to dovetail quite nicely with Galactus' inclusion in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. And of course there's also the matter of HERBIE, the FF's robot pal who, in comics, has direct ties to Galactus, something that could also come into play in the film.

Fantastic Four arrives in theaters on July 25. While we wait, check out our guides to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way and our breakdown of how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

"From the very beginning, we were very in sync on what kind of movie we wanted to make. Everybody involved loves, and grew up watching, the Hong Kong '80s action movies, especially the ones that came from Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung," the Oscar winner tells GamesRadar+, citing Dragons Forever, Winners & Sinners, and Project A as more direct influences.

"What was really special about those movies is that you can clearly see it's the actors doing all the fighting. We wanted to pay homage to that, but I also just wanted to do all the fights myself. In order to get me ready, 87North [Productions] got together this amazing action team and they trained me for 3 months and it was a tough 3 months, because even though I knew the moves, it was about getting my body in shape. It was very physically demanding."

Also starring the likes of Ariana DeBose, Daniel Wu, and Quan's The Goonies co-star Sean Astin, Love Hurts centers on Marvin Gable, a mild-mannered, hard-working realtor who's more likely to toss you a homemade cookie than throw a punch. His peaceful life is upended, though, when an old acquaintance of his suddenly reenters his life. Not only does he have a romantic history with Rose (DeBose), she has a complicated past involving Marvin's mobster brother Knuckles – and now the latter knows she's back in town, he'll stop at nothing to find her. Even if he has to kill Marvin to get to her...  

"A lot of the Jackie Chan movies are very creative. He loves using stuff, just ordinary stuff that you would find in your kitchen or your home, and using it as a weapon," smiles Quan. "So when I saw [these fights that included] pencils and cookie cutters, I was like, 'Yes! This is exciting.' 

"With Love Hurts, we're not trying to do something new, but it has been a long time since audiences have seen something like this. Hopefully those who haven't grown up on those movies will find it new and exciting and those who did will get to feel like kids again." 

Love Hurts releases in cinemas on February 7. For more, check out our picks of the best action movies of all time.

While exact details around Rollins' part are unknown, he would have seemingly played a member of the Serpent Society, a snake-themed group of villains pulled straight from the pages of Captain America's comics.

As Onah tells ComicBook.com, even before Rollins' part was left on the cutting room floor there was some work that needed to be done to ensure the larger-than-life personas of the Serpent Society fit into the grounded thriller of Brave New World.

"When you’re taking characters like Serpent Society from publishing, who, as you know, are individuals dressed up as snakes and have snake-adjacent powers, you’re always iterating and trying to figure out the version that totally works best in a movie like this," Onah said.

On Rollins, Onah added, "I love Seth, Seth’s incredible. But as we were evolving, we knew we had an additional photography period, just one that we did early on in the process that’s planned."

From there, a certain Giancarlo Esposito became available. Soon, his villain Sidewinder took centre stage and Rollins' character was the unfortunate casualty.

“We were trying to figure out, ‘Hey, who’s somebody that can bring a very specific kind of gravitas that works with this tone?’ And when Giancarlo became available, it was such a no-brainer," Onah said.

Rollins, real name Colby Lopez, previously appeared in Sharknado 4. His wife and fellow wrestler Becky Lynch has also had an MCU role cut, with Fightful reporting that she was originally set to appear in one of the Eternals post-credits scenes. Another WWE star, Randy Orton, previously revealed he once auditioned for the role of Cable in Deadpool 2, a part that eventually went to Josh Brolin.

Captain America: Brave New World, starring Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, and Harrison Ford, is set to hit cinemas on February 14.

For more, check out the upcoming Marvel movies coming your way. Then relive the MCU's finest moments with the Marvel timeline.

The four-and-a-half-minute video, posted on YouTube by Ron South, shows Starr reading for the role of the new James Bond, presumably for the 2006 flick Casino Royale, after Pierce Bronson sipped his last Martini as 007 in 2002. The star is reading from the Golden Eye script, where Bronson’s agent is flirting with Bond girl Xenia Onatopp. Check out the full video below.

The response to Starr’s screen test has been mostly positive, with many pointing out how refreshing it is to hear the star’s native New Zealand accent, and others comparing his performance to that of '70s Bond actor Roger Moore. "Out of all the ones you've uploaded so far, Starr seems to be the best fit in my eyes," commented one viewer.

However, it hasn't taken long for The Boys fans to get their hands on the video, and the jokes have already started to reel in on Reddit. "Lander HomeLander," responded one fan, while another added, "Breast milk, squeezed not pumped."

It seems that although Starr appeared in many TV shows and movies before The Boys, fans will always see him as Homelander. Starr will return as the milk-loving villain next year in the final season of the hit Prime Video show. The Boys season 5 is currently filming, with Starr suiting up for the last time alongside co-stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, and more. The season is expected to land in 2026.

For more Bond, check out Henry Cavill’s screen test, or see our list of the best James Bond movies ranked.

The audition from 2005 sees Cavill speak some classic lines, including his order of a "vodka martini, shaken not stirred" and that his name is "Bond, James Bond". The full video lasts about seven minutes in total and sees the star, who was in his early 20s at this point, act the scene several different times.

This is the first time we've seen the actual audition, but we've known for a long time that Cavill was one of the initial frontrunners for Bond. Speaking back in 2003, Casino Royale director Martin Campbell described his audition as "tremendous".

"He looked great in the audition," he told Express.co.uk. "His acting was tremendous. And look, if Daniel didn’t exist Henry would have made an excellent Bond. He looked terrific, he was in great physical shape… very handsome, very chiseled. He just looked a little young at that time back then."

Cavill's audition isn't the only one released by the YouTube channel Ron South, with the Bond screen tests of Avatar's Sam Worthington, Pride and Prejudice star Rupert Friend, and The Boys actor Antony Starr all available to watch too. It's not clear exactly where the videos have come from.

The role of course went to Daniel Craig, who played the super spy in five films. For more on all things 007, check our guides to the best James Bond movies, ranked from worst to best and the best James Bond stunts.

"Shit happens," Ford told The Wall Street Journal. "I was really the one who felt there was another story to tell. When [Indy] had suffered the consequences of the life that he had to live, I wanted one more chance to pick him up and shake the dust off his ass and stick him out there, bereft of some of his vigor, to see what happened. I’m still happy I made that movie."

The final installment of the Indiana Jones franchise saw Indy team up with his estranged goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) to obtain a rare artifact before a Nazi scientist (Mads Mikkelsen) gets to it first. James Mangold took over directing duties from Steven Spielberg, with Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and Jurassic Park scribe David Koepp penning the script.

The film grossed $384 million worldwide against its budget of $295 million, making it an expensive loss for Disney. Critics were also mixed on the pic, which notably featured a de-aged Ford created with CGI.

Ford has since joined a new franchise, taking over for the late William Hurt in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as President Thadeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross in Captain America: Brave New World. In the upcoming pic, Ross clashes with Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson - and also turns into the Red Hulk.

Captain America: Brave New World is set to hit theaters on February 14. For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows you need to know about.

"When I was first sent the script, I read it right away, because I was excited. One, it came from 87North..." the Loki star tells GamesRadar+ with a big grin. "I remember loving the script but I was confused because I didn't know why they were reaching out to me for this character; I didn't see myself as [Marvin]. I thought it was written for a different type of actor. I actually passed on it.

"Luckily they didn't give up, they came back a second time, and a third time, so I went in and I met with our producing team and [Jonathan] 'JoJo' Eusebio, our director, and then I realized that they were trying to create a different kind of action hero. Someone who doesn't look badass but when the situation calls for it, then you realize, 'Wow, this guy is a true badass!"

Also featuring the likes of Daniel Wu, Ariana DeBose, and Quan's The Goonies co-star Sean Astin, Love Hurts sees Marvin experience the Valentine's Day from hell when Rose, a mysterious former acquaintance of his, suddenly reenters his life. Turns out, Rose has a complicated history with Marvin's mobster brother Alvin (or Knuckles, as his cronies like to call him) – and now that he's heard she's back in town, he's started threatening Marvin to get him to reveal her whereabouts. Will the sweater vest-loving optimist be willing to risk his new, peaceful life and embrace his dark side to protect them both?

While it's not hard to imagine what the movie would've turned out like had a Keanu Reeves or Jason Statham-type playing mild-mannered Marvin, Quan says he had to personally undo all that he'd come to expect from an action hero in order to take on the role.

"I'd been conditioned all these years to think that an action hero needs to look a certain way; needs to have big biceps, needs to be a certain height, needs to act a certain way," he notes. "So I had to change my own internal narrative and to look at this character from a different perspective. Once I did that, I thought, 'I am Marvin Gable!' It was such a revelation, and once I said 'yes' to this, we did make little tweaks here and there to make it even more [suited] for me. It was so fun! I'm glad they didn't give up on me and I changed my mind."

Love Hurts releases in cinemas on February 7. For more, check out our picks of the best action movies of all time.

There are, of course, some notable exceptions, with films like Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy helping to break the mold, as well as TV shows like WandaVision and Loki, which both embraced their period settings. Now, it seems like The Fantastic Four: First Steps is about to join that list too, based on its super stylish first trailer.

The movie, which is due out in theaters this July, is set in a "1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world" according to Marvel. This is something that's been written all over the marketing materials so far, from that first-look drawing to the unveiling of the film's logo and title – and the new trailer is no different. It starts off by playing with its aspect ratio before introducing the period-specific set designs, costuming, and Space Race-era graphics. Everything is demonstrating that this isn't your usual superhero fare, and the bold direction looks set to make it stand out in a year of busy releases.

Attention to detail

The key to really nailing the aesthetics of a period piece is attention to detail, and this is something director Matt Shakman knows well from his work on WandaVision. That TV show ushered in a new era of Marvel, not just on the small screen, but also in its commitment to setting and style. Shifting weekly from sitcom era to sitcom era, it was beautifully designed and utterly captivating to watch.

This close eye attention is also something woven throughout the first trailer for Fantastic Four too. Costuming details especially stand out, from the team's outfits themselves (which Pedro Pascal explains have a '60s influence) to using a local vintage shop to supply suits. Then there's the sleek design of the Baxter Building, full of era-specific kitchen utensils, patterned rugs, and mid-century modern furniture.

It's something that also holds true to the golden era of Fantastic Four comics too. The team first debuted in 1961 and helped take Marvel from a smaller imprint to a pop culture powerhouse. It's here that Shakman says he's been drawing his greatest inspiration from the movie too. "I'm not so much looking at the other movies, I'm looking at the comics themselves," he told Inverse back in 2023, sharing how he'd been focusing on Stan Lee's take on the characters.

Another major influence is the post World War Two Space Race era that saw the United States and the Soviet Union rushing to become the first nation in space. "The comic was created in the early '60s, really at the same time that the Space Race was starting, so it is infused with that idea of looking to the stars and dreaming of a future where we would be space travelers," he told Entertainment Weekly in 2024. "And so I really wanted to take all of that great stuff from Apollo 11 and just imagine that instead of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, it was the Storms and Ben Grimm and Reed Richards heading off into space."

To boldly go

The distinctive style of The Fantastic Four: First Steps is most evident when you compare it to the other superhero movies we're expecting over the next few months. Take the trailers for Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* – while I think both look like great films, there's nothing at this point that suggests a break from the superhero mold.

Similarly, James Gunn's upcoming Superman had a really good-looking first trailer, which left me intrigued by his take on the new DCU – but it still doesn't have much that makes it stand apart in an increasingly busy genre. The CGI heavy shots and clashes between good and evil look cool, but it doesn't feel like something we've never seen before.

It's an interesting comparison too because just like Superman, the Fantastic Four are some of the most-frequently adapted characters on screen. Yet, despite this being a familiar story to many, this first look feels completely different from how we've seen Marvel's First Family depicted before.

While we're still a way off the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and there's a lot left to be worked out with the movie (including that divisive CGI for The Thing), all signs are pointing to it being a fully-realized, unique new space for the MCU. And if Shakman brings the level of WandaVision to the big screen, I've got a feeling it could be Marvel's most exciting cinema release yet.

Fantastic Four arrives in theaters on July 25. While we wait, check out our guides to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way and our breakdown of how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

Don't worry about figuring out what it all means. This is the internet and, as such, it's already been cracked by a budding codebreaker.

As worked out by whatnowayimpossible on Reddit, the beeping is actually a Morse code signal that could spell out RADIATION.

While the Redditor admits that only the back half of the word remains clear, the Morse code message of 'radiation' makes a lot of sense narrative-wise.

Given that the launch (and First Steps trailer itself) all revolved around Marvel's First Family and a mission into space, it doesn't require a great leap of imagination to see that the message could stem from a possible warning message sent back to Earth.

After all, the Fantastic Four famously got their powers after being subjected to cosmic rays. Might this be one way for Marvel Studios to nod towards their comic book origins without showing it outright in the lead-up to the film?

Alongside a litany of Fantastic Four trailer Easter eggs, fans have also discovered everything from a reference to a 'multiverse bridge' (one that could have major implications for the wider MCU) to a possible moment that's hiding Reed Richards' stretching powers. But at least those don't require a degree in cryptology to figure out.

Fantastic Four, starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon-Moss Bachrach, is set to hit cinemas on July 25, 2025.

For more, jump into the Marvel timeline and our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

Taking to Reddit, one fan pointed out that one of the figures in the poster looks a lot like Philip Sheldon, a character introduced in 1993. He was a journalist photographer in the Marvel universe who was around for the emergence of the first superheroes, whom he (appropriately) called "Marvels," in the 1930s.

"Same outfit, one eye covered by the camera (hiding the eye patch?), same age," the fan notes. "Sheldon was photographing all the major canon MCU events during the golden age of comics, so this would fit."

Possible Philip Sheldon Cameo in F4 Poster? from r/marvelstudios

It would indeed make a lot of sense for this character to be Philip Sheldon, but whether this is a fully fledged cameo or just a small Easter egg to nod to Marvel's massive history remains to be seen.

The trailer was hiding plenty of Easter eggs, though, which you can read about in our The Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer Easter eggs breakdown.

We don't have long to wait for Fantastic Four, with the movie debuting on July 25. Next up for Marvel is Captain America: Brave New World, which arrives this February 14.

While you wait, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows for everything else the MCU has in store, or prepare for a marathon with our guide to the Marvel movies in order.

Hidden amongst all the exposition ("Before we went up the first time, you couldn't turn invisible, Ben wasn't a rock, and Johnny never caught fire"), though, is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment that might just give away how the titular team will eventually join the present-day MCU...

At 0:39, Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards can be seen scribbling formulas and equations on a chalkboard and, if you look carefully, you'll spot a reference to something called a 'multiverse bridge' in his notes. "Entrance" and "exit" it reads on either side of the diagram, which has lead many fans to conclude that that'll be the way Mr. Fantastic and co wind up on the Sacred Timeline.

Not only would that explain why the spandex-loving do-gooders haven't got involved in Avengers-style shenanigans before, it could also make sense of why Doctor Doom looks like Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man in future films. (It's long been suspected that he'll be a Tony Stark variant of some sort).

"Council of Reeds is coming," one excited fan wrote on Twitter, referencing a organization in the comics that consists of multiversal counterparts of Reed Richards – specifically those who have invented the Bridge, a sophisticated portal that enables someone to jump between realities.

In the source material, Galactus, the cosmic villain in Fantastic Four: First Steps, consumes planets to sustain his life force. Might he destroy the F4's in the new movie? Leaving them no choice but to flee to another timeline? Earth-616, perhaps?

They wouldn't be the first Marvel heroes to be given a second chance in that way. Deadpool and Wolverine explored something similar through Hugh Jackman's Logan, who found peace again in the Merc with a Mouth's world after years of punishing himself over the death of his fellow X-Men in his former timeline. Monica Rambeau also ended up elsewhere at the end of The Marvels, meeting Hank McCoy AKA Beast and a variant of her mother, Maria, in the post-credits scene.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps releases on July 25, 2025. While we wait, check out our all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way, as well as our guide to how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

As pointed out in tongue-in-cheek fashion by Twitter user BrianBerkman, one oddly-framed scene shows Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards scribbling out a scientific equation. In the distance, the chalkboard stretches round but is covered by darkness.

"10 bucks he’s stretching his other arm to write on the left side of the board," Berkman wrote. The idea has clearly caught on, with several replying in agreement and one even visualizing how that would look on-screen.

Given that the new Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer showcased the abilities of everyone else from Marvel's First Family (even if the jury is still out on The Thing), it's an odd choice not to parade arguably the group's most iconic skillset front and center. On top of that, the picture also doesn't feature Pascal's left hand. Curious.

It could be a stretch, then, but we're now pretty certain: Marvel has cut Reed Richards' powers from the first look.

Marvel has a previous history with trailer edits, of course. Most famously, Hulk appeared in the initial wave of Avengers: Infinity War marketing but never in the movie itself.

Spider-Man: No Way Home even removed characters outright, instead choosing to obscure the presence of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Spideys until release day. Thor: Ragnarok's iconic trailer set to Led Zeppelin's 'Immigrant Song' also hid the fact that the God of Thunder lost his eye.

Fantastic Four, starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon-Moss Bachrach, is set to hit cinemas on July 25, 2025.

For more, check out all the Fantastic Four trailer Easter eggs we have spotted so far. Then dive into the past with our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

To explain the historic hate in a nutshell, HERBIE could be considered something like the Jar Jar Binks of the Marvel Universe - an oddball comedy character who wrecked up what could have been a perfectly serious story just by his very presence in it. A short-hand symbol of all the things that have ever gone wrong with a certain piece of beloved media.

HERBIE, like DC's Harley Quinn, was actually created outside of comics for an animated series. In the robot's case, that's 1978's short-lived show The New Fantastic Four.

Created by semi-obscure animation studio DePatie–Freleng Enterprises (also known as DFE Films), who are perhaps best known for creating animated special effects for films including Star Wars and credits sequences for the Pink Panther movies, The New Fantastic Four was intended to be an extension of Hanna-Barbera's earlier Fantastic Four cartoon (hence the "New" in the title) but due to complex contractual reasons, the new show was instead created by DFE.

However, DFE's executives became concerned that seeing Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, who was depicted as an older teen at the time, bursting into flames might give kids the idea to light themselves on fire. The studio set about to come up with a new character who could carry the torch for Johnny Storm, without literally carrying any kind of torch whatsoever.

At least, that's the common lore. The truth may actually have more to do with a planned Human Torch TV film that was in development at some point in the '70s that likely conflicted with DFE's ability to use the character for their show.

Either way, the character DFE chose to replace Johnny was their original creation HERBIE, a robotic little ding-dong whose powers seemed to be producing whatever deus ex machina device a given episode might need for its resolution, and annoying the living crap out of Fantastic Four fans who just wanted to see one of the founding members of the team and not a flying dumpling with the personality of your most obnoxious nephew.

Nonetheless, HERBIE, whose name stands for "Highly Engineered Robot Built for Interdimensional Exploration," was quickly brought into comics by creators Marv Wolfman and John Byrne, and has remained a staple of the FF's larger mythos ever since - even as the loathing felt by Fantastic Four fans who were, pun kind of intended, burned by The New Fantastic Four animated series remained simmering in the background in the form of endless jokes and digs at the lil guy's expense.

Perhaps that persistence is why, like Jar Jar Binks, whose haters often misunderstand the care and craft put into the role by actor Ahmed Best, HERBIE has actually become more of a beloved mascot for now jaded fans who long for hints of the youth we lost despising an animated robot.

Anathema has turned to enough affection to even warrant including the character in Fantastic Four: The First Steps, where his trailer scene with Ben Grimm has already become one of the most heartwarming moments we've seen of the MCU's FF yet. And he's also a part of smash-hit game Marvel Rivals where he guides the Fantasticar through a ruined version of Midtown New York City.

There's also a little tidbit of lore lurking in HERBIE's comic book origins, where he is built not just by Reed Richards, but by Mister Fantastic and the Xandarians - as in the people who founded the Nova Corps in both comics and the MCU - in order to attempt to track Galactus.

And as we well know, Galactus will be a big part (again, pun sort of intended) of Fantastic Four: The First Steps, so perhaps there will be a connection to Xandar in play as well. Maybe it'll be an early target of Galactus in the film. After all, it was all but destroyed by Thanos in the mainstream MCU.

Whatever happens, HERBIE will be there to lighten the mood, and, hopefully, fully shed his hated past to solidify the character as a beloved part of the Fantastic Four and the Marvel Universe at large.

Looking for more Marvel? Check out our guide to how to watch the Marvel movies in order as well as what you need to know about the Marvel timeline.

Following the release of the first trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the studio shared a brand new series of posters on social media. The images show various civilians and children who are celebrating the Fantastic Four by way of rallying in a crowd or watching them on television. The first poster in the thread has garnered quite a strong reaction from fans who were quick to point out missing and duplicate fingers, duplicate faces, and other slightly warped details.

The images also have that strange texture (for lack of a better term) that a lot of AI-generated images seem to have, though this can be chalked up to the fact that the posters are meant to look old or vintage on purpose given that the new Fantastic Four movie takes places in the 1960s. You can check out the poster below.

According to The Wrap, however, a spokesperson for Marvel has denied that AI was used in the creation of the posters. Marvel has used AI in the past however, with the opening credit sequence for the Disney Plus series Secret Invasion being entirely AI-generated.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 25 as part of Marvel Phase 6. For more, check out our list of all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows you need to know about, or, check out our guide to all the Fantastic Four trailer Easter Eggs you might have missed.

While it's just shy of having actually been confirmed, leaving a sliver of daylight for a big surprise on Marvel's part, it seems a lot like the mystery role played by John Malkovich, who is glimpsed just briefly in the trailer, is very likely the super-powered cosmonaut Ivan Kragoff.

Now, for most MCU fans, there's a solid chance you're scratching your heads and saying "Who the heck is Ivan Kragoff?" But me, insufferable Marvel know-it-all that I am, I'm jumping for joy, as the delightfully strange Kragoff was my top choice for who Malkovich could be playing way back when his casting was reported, because of the potential twist that may come with Red Ghost's inclusion in the film.

Created all the way back in 1963's Fantastic Four #13 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Kragoff is actually one of four cosmonauts embroiled in the Space Race of the '60s who gained super powers after exposure to Cosmic Rays, just like their American counterparts Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm.

But that's not the twist.

The twist is, the other three cosmonauts who gained powers alongside Kragoff are actually great apes, collectively known as the Super-Apes. Yes, that's right - the original comic book concept of an anti-FF was a weird old ghost man and his three monkey pals.

In terms of the Super-Apes, there's Mikhlo the gorilla who gains the powers of super-strength and toughness, Igor the baboon who gains the ability to shapeshift, and of course Peotr the orangutan who gains the power of simple telekinesis.

Though the Super-Apes have often clashed with Kragoff over his cruel treatment of them, even once forming a special bond with the Invisible Woman while hiding out on the moon, they almost always appear together as a foursome.

You can see why I'm excited. There's no more hilariously, loveably absurd trope in comics than the idea of super-intelligent apes with super powers, and we may be one step closer to actually seeing the Super-Apes come to life in the MCU, as ridiculous as that may sound.

Yes, it may be far-fetched. But it's not impossible, and that's what the Fantastic Four are all about - breaking the boundaries of possibility. Such as giving an old goofball nerd hope that I may indeed get to see the Super-Apes realized onscreen.

Oh yeah, and Red Ghost of course. Malkovich is the perfect casting to play a mad scientist cosmonaut who has glimpsed sights beyond what the human mind can bear, and who hangs around with three apes on the moon.

I can dream, right? We'll likely find out more about whether Malkovich is actually playing Ivan Kragoff or not in the months leading up to the July release of Fantastic Four: The First Steps, and in the meantime, I'll be dreaming of Super-Apes.

Fantastic Four arrives in theaters on July 25. While we wait, check out our guides to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way and our breakdown of how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

In the romcom-tinged movie, which releases just in time for Valentine's Day on February 7, Quan plays Marvin Gable, a big-hearted, hardworking realtor who wants nothing more than to keep his head down, sell a few houses, and impress his kind, cowboy hat-wearing boss (Astin).

"When we were talking about who could play Cliff, my mentor, there was only one name and that was Sean Astin. I'm so glad that he said 'yes'. It was an incredibly fun day for me – when we were shooting that scene, another Goonies member came to visit us; Jeff Cohen, who is my entertainment attorney. We had a nice little reunion," Quan recalls in an interview with GamesRadar+.

Marvin's secret past gets exposed, though, when his old acquaintance Rose (Ariana DeBose) reenters his life – and his vengeful brother Knuckles (Daniel Wu) catches wind of her comeback. Turns out, they have quite the history, too... From there on, things get bloody, as Marvin is forced to embrace his killer instinct to protect himself and his former sweetheart.

Fortunately, Quan had an easier time of it offscreen. "It was so incredible to share the screen with Sean again after 40 years. I felt like a kid again and I actually got quite emotional, on a personal level… knowing what Goonies meant to both of us and to all the fans. It's kind of like our little treat to the Goonies fans who've been wanting a Goonies sequel all these years."

Back in 1985, Quan played gadget whiz Data, while Astin brought leader-type Mikey to life, in Steven Spielberg's beloved adventure movie The Goonies. "We had numerous scripts, but there was not one script that felt it could live up to what the original was," the Oscar winner previously told IndieWire. "Sadly we lost the captain of our ship [director Richard Donner, who passed away in 2021], and I really don’t know if there’s going to be a Goonies 2, but I would really love to revisit the character of Data if there is an opportunity."

Love Hurts releases on February 7. For more, check out our picks of the best action movies of all time.

Pascal admitted to Good Morning America that it was "humbling" to take on this iconic character, and said about the film's fashion choices: "The suit was very fitting for all of us, and had a little bit of a retro GoGo [style]. And I think we pulled it off".

Since The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set in the '60s, it's only natural that the suits are influenced by the decade's GoGo aesthetic, but it's also a bold choice for a superhero costume.

In the first images of the film, we see Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm wearing slightly different versions of the same outfit — a blue jumpsuit with white boots, belt and gloves, and with the signature 4 in the chest.

Previous adaptations of the comics opted for a more serious black-and-blue suit, but it seems the new movie is closer to 1994's unreleased Fantastic Four film.

The new MCU film is kicking off Marvel Phase 6 this summer, and we're sure it's going to be packed with more surprises than just unexpected fashion choices. The man Easter eggs in the Fantastic Four trailer are already leaving clues of what's to come, while fans are still feeling divided over The Thing's first look.

Fantastic Four arrives in theaters on July 25. While we wait, check out our guides to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way and our breakdown of how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

Before then, though, Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson is finally taking center stage as Captain America in his own solo movie, Captain America: Brave New World. When we sat down with Mackie and his co-star Danny Ramirez, who plays Joaquin Torres, to talk about the movie in London, we asked about the Avengers double bill that's headed our way.

"I'm really excited about the idea of old meeting new. The OG, original cast members of the MCU, and all the new people coming together to form this massive conglomerate," says Mackie.

When Ramirez worries that his co-star might've accidentally let a spoiler slip with his answer, Mackie clarifies that he doesn't know what's happening, but that's what he's excited about – and, as he reminds us all, "RDJ stood on stage and said, 'I'm coming back!'"

"It's just exciting, the idea of seeing the new people, and hopefully the two worlds coming together and creating a super MCU," Mackie adds. "It's exciting. You see Deadpool and Wolverine, [and] it's like, 'Are they gonna be in it?' You know what I mean? Like, you see these movies [and you think], 'Who's gonna be in it, who's gonna do it.' I'm excited about that."

Alongside Mackie and Ramirez, Captain America 4 also stars Harrison Ford as President Ross (AKA Red Hulk), Giancarlo Esposito as Sidewinder, and Tim Blake Nelson as The Leader.

Captain America: Brave New World hits theaters this February 14. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows for everything else the MCU has in store, or have a marathon with our guide to watching the Marvel movies in order.

When we met with Mackie and Ramirez in London to talk about the new Marvel Phase 5 movie, we asked how they built on this friendship from when we saw their characters last.

"It's easy with Anthony, honestly, he sets the tone of how to be on set," says Ramirez. "And so obviously, our dynamic being one of the main reasons why Joaquin was even written, so even from the audition sides, that bond and that relationship was the North Star of Joaquin, in regards to he gets to live his dream by partnering with one of his heroes and by going out there and kicking ass with him. And so it's been easy, at least for me."

As for Mackie, he explains how that dynamic of a new hero joining the fold is mirrored by the actual dynamic on set. "It's been amazing," he says. "If you look at this movie, you have three actors in three different points in their careers. You have Danny, who's fresh, young, starting his career, doing great work, and you can see it building massively. Then you have me, who's been in the game 25 years, in the middle of my career, with the hopes of one day reaching the pinnacle of success and artistry like Harrison Ford.

"I learned so much just by being on set with Danny," Mackie continues. "You can get jaded, you can get in this business, and after doing it for 25 years, it's like, 'Oh, it's another fucking movie, here we go.' But the reality of it is, when he comes to set, the amount of excitement, the amount of appreciation, the amount of work he's done before he got there, the eagerness to be successful in creating that character and making a good movie, that only affects me.

"Because when I see that, I'm like, 'I remember that kid. I remember being that kid.' And just being infected by that and having to relive that makes the experience and the opportunity that much more rewarding. Because it's like, 'Wow, he's really enjoying this moment. He's happy to be here. Why am I not?' So it's that feed off it opportunity, because just like it's his first movie, it's my first movie, too, you know? So it's just that idea of excitement."

Captain America: Brave New World is in theaters this February 14. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows for everything else the MCU has in store, or prepare for a marathon with our guide to watching the Marvel movies in order.

Now, we'll finally see both Mackie and Ramirez suited up as the new Cap and Falcon when Brave New World hits theaters. So, how are they feeling?

"Excited as hell," Mackie tells us when we meet with both actors to talk about the Marvel Phase 5 movie. "You have to think about how much work and how much time went into this. They told me I was gonna be Captain America five years ago. So I've just been biding my time waiting for this moment. But the excitement of it comes with the idea of, Marvel gave me the best cast, they gave me the best script, they gave me the best crew, they gave me the best director to make the best movie we could make. And I'm just really proud of it. I'm proud of the fact that it turned out the way it did, and it's entertaining, and it's heartfelt, and it's fun, and it's everything a Marvel movie is supposed to be."

Ramirez is also excited to be stepping up. "I saw it 10 days ago for the first time," he says. "And I was floored. It's one of those things that obviously the process is so long, and as you said, you were told this five years ago. They told me when I was born. Kevin [Feige] went up to me and said, 'You're gonna one day don the wings.' So I've been waiting a lot longer," he jokes.

"But having gone through the process from training to prep to then actually shooting the film, and then finally seeing it – I think it might have been 11 days now, I'm counting every single day since I've seen it – but I was blown away that it all came together in the way it did," Ramirez continues. "Because obviously the thing I've grown to love about Marvel and everyone part of it, they just get to bring the best department heads and creatives that they want. You realize, when you have a group of that powerful creatives, from the cast – and obviously Anthony leading us – you create magic. And it was one of those moments, having seen the process from inception to where it's at now, that I'm like, 'Oh, that's how it's done.'"

Captain America: Brave New World is in theaters this February 14. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows for everything else the MCU has in store, or prepare for a marathon with our guide to watching the Marvel movies in order.

As well as giving us our first idea of what the tone of the Marvel Phase 6 movie will be like, we also got a first glimpse at Galactus and some neat nods and references to the world of the Fantastic Four and the wider MCU. Among the nods are some links to big details in the comics as well as some familiar locations. We break down all of the details below.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps Easter eggs

1. Future Foundation

In a brief teaser trailer released ahead of the trailer, there was a namedrop of the Future Foundation, which Fantastic Four fans will know well. This debuted in the Fantastic Four comics back in 2010, and was founded in the wake of Johnny Storm's death, and is both a superhero team and a school for super scientists. Featuring everyone from Spider-Man to Doctor Doom at different points, it's one of the more influential superhero team-ups in Marvel history.

It's not clear how it will feature in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie just yet though but it seems they're behind the launch of the First Family's rocket. This was teased on the official trailer launch YouTube channel description, which reads: "Broadcasting from the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, the Future Foundation invites you to count down to the launch of the official trailer for Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps."

2. Fantasticar

The iconic Fantasticar makes a very brief appearance in the trailer too, zooming through the streets of Manhattan. The beloved flying car first appeared in Stan Lee's early Fantastic Four comics and was the team's primary mode of transportation.

3. Baxter Building

At the beginning of the trailer, Storm and Richards walking a building introduced as the Baxter Building. Located in Manhattan in New York City, the office building was first introduced back in the third issue of Fantastic Four in the '60s and its five upper floors house the Fantastic Four's headquarters. It's where the team have dinner together every week, Storm explains.

4. Galactus

The big fella has arrived! We have our first glimpse at what Galactus will look like in the MCU, and he's huge. Ralph Ineson's cosmic entity consumes planets to sustain himself, so it's probably predictable that he was going to be pretty big, but in the final moments of the trailer, we see the full scale of the character. Although all we see is the back of his head, he looms over New York City. This will be his first introduction to the MCU, but the God-like figure has always been a Fantastic Four villain.

5. The Multiverse

In the trailer, Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards gets to show off his famed intellect – but his scrawlings on a chalkboard could be hiding something else entirely. If you look just over his left shoulder, you can see a diagram that appears to show a wormhole that takes its user from one place to an 'exit'. Although it's hard to make out, the words 'Another universe?' can be glimpsed under the drawing.

It's still early days yet, but there are a couple of possibilities stemming from this detail: One, Reed might already be aware of the existence of the multiverse (Fantastic Four is set in the 1960s in a universe outside of the Sacred Timeline, so that matches up) or two, the impending threat of the world-eating Galactus has Reed searching for any way out of his universe – a cataclysmic worst-case scenario.

In either case, that should neatly answer how the Fantastic Four find themselves in the MCU before the next Avengers movies, which they've already been confirmed to appear in.

6. H.E.R.B.I.E.

Although we've known for some time that H.E.R.B.I.E. would be a part of the team, this is the first time we've seen him in live-action proper. He appears early on in the trailer cooking and preparing Sunday dinner with Ben Grimm. The robot is another nod to Fantastic Four history, and was first brought in with The New Fantastic Four in the late '70s. He's been a mainstay of the comics since and a loyal member of the team. His seasoning could use a little work though it seems...

7. The costumes

Right at the end of the trailer, we see the team suited and booted in pale blue costumes. Not only do they look very dapper, but we can see some big similarities to both the 1994 movie and the white necklines that we first started seeing around Issue 256 of the Fantastic Four comics. They look very classic here and perfectly fit the '60s aesthetic of the Marvel movie.

8. Cooking up a storm

The first trailer for Fantastic Four: First Steps opens with Ben Grimm, in Thing form, cooking up a Storm in the kitchen ahead of one of the team's family dinners. "Herbie, how's that sauce coming?" he asks the perky robot, before it wheels over and suggests 'it's done' in various beeps and boops. "Yeah, I'll be the judge of that," Grimm says, as he dips his orange pinky into the pan and has a taste."Okay, okay," he claps enthusiastically.

"Is this guy good or what? I'm gonna add a couple cloves of garlic, not because it's not delicious, I just want to add a bit of zip." Now, Ebon Moss-Bachrach plays The Thing, of course, so it's hard to see him in such a setting and not see it as a nod to hugely popular comedy-drama The Bear, in which he plays restaurant manager Richie Jerimovich.

9. A hidden stretch?

Some eagle-eyed fans have also noticed that Reed Richards' stretchy powers don't appear at all in the first trailer – or do they? In the scene that Richards is writing on the chalkboard in his classroom, Marvel fans are convinced that the studio might have edited out him stretching along it. The evidence? Well, aside from the super wide chalkboard that seems custom made for an elasticated man, you also can't see his left hand. This wouldn't be the first time that Marvel has played around with edited scenes in its trailers either, with Spider-Man: No Way Home's Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield omissions springing to mind.

10. Red Ghost

If you missed the news that the legendary John Malkovich is starring in Fantastic Four, you may be surprised by his appearance in the trailer. In the brief glimpse, the actor is sporting long grey hair and a bushy bear, sitting in a dark room. Nothing is therefore given away but it is rumored that the star is playing one of the Fantastic Four's oldest enemies in the new movie, a character called Ivan Kragoff aka Red Ghost.

First appearing in 1963's Fantastic Four #13, created by duo Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, Kragoff is an evil genius who gained the powers of invisibility and intangibility (unable to be touched) after being exposed to powerful cosmic rays. And he wasn't the only one, as Kragoff's followers (a trio known as the Super-Apes) were also affected. Of course, we haven't had any official confirmation yet Malkovich is portraying the Red Ghost but he does look quite sinister in the teaser trailer.

11. Kaplan's

At one point if you look at the screen that The Thing is watching himself on in the store window, the sign reads 'Kaplan's'. Now this is clearly a little in-universe nod to screenwriter Jeff Kaplan, who pens the script with Ian Springer. While we didn't spot the other scribe in the trailer, we bet he's hiding a nod somewhere in the final movie. Keep your eyes peeled.

12. The Thing's trench coat

In the same scene where he's looking in the shop window, Ben Grimm is wearing a trench coat and a hat, which looks strikingly similar to versions we've seen of the character before on screen and in the comics. He often dons a hat and a trench coat in a bid to go undercover after his transformation into The Thing around New York City.

Fantastic Four arrives in theaters on July 25. While we wait, check out our guides to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way and our breakdown of how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

While the movie looks like a retro-futuristic romp featuring Marvel's First Family, one point in particular has fans debating: the CGI on The Thing. Ebon Moss-Bachrach plays the character, whose real name is Ben Grimm, and we got our first look at him post-transformation in the trailer.

"Looks amazing for me," says one fan, while another is even more excited: "This is the best The Thing has ever looked and sounded. I actually can't believe it. I'm lost for words on how amazing this all looks."

Others, though, are less convinced: "Don't get me wrong I'm excited as hell for this movie but the CGI for The Thing doesn't look good he looks so animated into the screen to me and not like a person? I can't explain it."

"The concept feels great but holy shit do they need to work on the animation for The Thing it is so stiff, unnatural and doesn’t match Ebon's performance at all," says someone else.

Then there are some who aren't sure yet, but have faith they'll be won over when the movie comes out. "A little uncanny valley but I think it'll be tighter by launch. And the uncanny valley is he looks like a statue so when he moves it's mind boggling," says one person.

"It's very solid. They still have time when the final version will look much better, but he still looks great and very comic book accurate!" thinks another fan.

We won't have long until The Thing appears on the big screen. Fantastic Four: First Steps releases this July 25.

Until then, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows for everything else the MCU has in store, or see our roundup of how to watch the Marvel movies in order to plan a marathon.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer has finally been released, and it looks incredible. The much-anticipated new MCU take on Marvel's First Family kicks off Marvel Phase 6, as we enter a whole new era of mutants, huge galactic threats, and new heroes.

The first trailer comes after we got a sneak early peek at the team yesterday and it introduces the main gang: Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm. Set in a retro futuristic alternate version of the '60s, the teaser trailer begins with the Reed Richards and Sue Storm heading into the Baxter Building, the team's headquarters before cutting to H.E.R.B.I.E. and The Thing making family dinner.

"Before we went up the first time," Richards says to Storm, "You couldn't turn invisible, Ben wasn't a rock and Johnny never caught fire" as we see glimpses of the gang preparing for their ill-fated first mission. We also get some looks at a bigger threat coming as the sky explodes at one point and Ralph Ineson's Galactus' shadow looms over the city.

We also got our first look at John Malkovich's mysterious character too. Although they don't appear in the trailer, the film also stars Julia Garner as the Silver Surfer. Paul Walter Hauser, Natasha Lyonne, and Sarah Niles all also star in the movie, but their roles have yet to be revealed.

According to the official Marvel synopsis, The Fantastic Four: First Steps sees the team "face their most daunting challenge yet". It continues, "Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer. And if Galactus' plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren't bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal."

Fantastic Four arrives in theaters on July 25. While we wait, check out our guides to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way and our breakdown of how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

As per The Wrap, Jack Ryan and Nobody 2 writer Aaron Rabin is penning the script for Just Cause, which already has Blue Beetle director Ángel Manuel Soto on board.

There has been nothing announced in the way of casting, release date, or plot just yet, but we'd expect the upcoming title to draw heavily from the video game franchise. In the series, which currently consists of four games, Rico Rodriguez frequently finds himself toppling dictators and oppressive regimes with his own inimitable hard-hitting, high-flying style.

There are action chops aplenty on the producing side of things, too, as 87North's David Leitch, who directed Bullet Train and co-directed the first John Wick movie, is part of the project alongside partner Kelly McCormick.

Rabin's next project Nobody 2, starring Bob Odenkirk, is set to release in cinemas on August 15. The cast also features Connie Nielsen, RZA, Sharon Stone, and a returning Christopher Lloyd.

For more, check out the upcoming video game movies heading your way very soon. Then dive into the list of new PS5 games and new Xbox Series X games releasing in 2025 and beyond.

The star broke the news on Twitter writing, "Due to an unforeseen conflict in my schedule, I am deeply disappointed to announce I will be unable to perform in Hyde Park this July 6th." Jackman was due to perform at BST Hyde Park festival, singing songs with a live orchestra from musicals including The Boy from Oz, Les Miserables, The Music Man, and The Greatest Showman. Check out Jackman’s full statement below.

However, with Jackman axing his biggest UK concert to date, Marvel fans are sure this means the star has a much bigger project coming up. Yes, we’re talking about Avengers: Doomsday. "Doomsday will be knee-deep in filming by July," pointed out one fan on Reddit, suggesting Jackman has dropped the concert to suit as Wolverine once again.

It wouldn't be a huge surprise if the clawed hero did show up in Doomsday, as the movie has had a bumpy journey so far, and quite frankly, nothing is off the table. Despite originally being centered around Kang the Conqueror, Avengers 5 will now focus on the team’s battle against comic book villain Doctor Doom.

As for the cast, we know that Robert Downey Jr. will play Doctor Doom, as confirmed at San Diego Comic-Con 2024. Also revealed during the event, the cast of Fantastic Four: First Steps (Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach) are set to appear, as well as Thunderbolts* stars (Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, and more). But that's not all, as Doctor Strange star Benedict Cumberbatch has also hinted at his return, confirming, "I am in the next one."

Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to hit theaters on May 1, 2026. For more, check out our guide on how to watch Marvel movies in order, and keep up with upcoming Marvel movies heading your way.

“The truth is, there’s no truth to those rumors," Moore told ComicBook.com.

A third Black Panther movie – one that Denzel Washington had to deny he was ever a part of – is on the minds of Marvel, however. According to Moore, conversations will be had once director Ryan Coogler has finished up with vampire horror movie Sinners, which stars Michael B. Jordan.

"Never say never to anything, we haven’t really had a lot of creative conversations with Ryan Coogler yet, because he’s finishing his film Sinners… We’ll get into it later this year, but everything you read online is not true, if for no other reason than we just haven’t started [working on it]," Moore said.

Ever since Boseman's passing at the age of 43, the thorny, uncomfortable issue of recasting T'Challa has been mentioned in fan circles and on social media. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever largely dealt with the situation in powerful fashion, opting for Boseman's T'Challa to pass away off-screen.

The 2022 sequel addressed the grief from the loss of T'Challa and the power vacuum he left behind. His son was introduced in the Wakanda Forever post-credits scene and is seemingly being positioned at the future heir to the Black Panther mantle, which is currently occupied by Shuri (Letitia Wright).

Of course, the multiverse could sidestep the situation entirely by bringing in a new T'Challa from another universe. Presumably, that's where the "never say never" from Moore could one day lead. For now, the role of T'Challa is being left untouched in the MCU.

For more on the MCU, including the next entry Captain America: Brave New World, be sure to check out our run through of upcoming Marvel movies. Then dive into our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order.